The present invention is directed generally to card reader systems, and more specifically, to systems and methods for reading cards including miniature cards smaller than standard credit cards.
Card readers currently exist that process credit cards by reading information contained on a magnetic stripe attached to the back of the card. One such system is the BOWE 7710 system, produced by BOWE Systec, having its headquarters in Augsburg, Germany. This system often is coupled with additional devices that allow new credit cards to be organized and attached to mailing inserts. The cards are then mailed to current or potential customers. Cards to date, including credit cards, automated teller machine (ATM) cards, debit cards, and the like, have generally conformed to a standard size referred to as a CR80 card. These CR80 cards are typically about eighty-five millimeters (85 mm) long and about fifty-four millimeters (54 mm) wide.
Recently, some card issuers have begun to provide smaller cards to their customers. In some cases, these miniature or “mini” cards are created from a CR80-sized card. The CR80 cards are scored in a vertical direction to shorten the length of the card, and may also be scored horizontally to shorten the height of the card. The miniature card is formed by breaking off the CR80 card edges formed by the scores. The magnetic stripe on the CR80 card spans the entire width of the card. When creating the miniature card, the discarded pieces also discard a portion of the magnetic stripe. The portion of the magnetic stripe remaining on the miniature card contains desired information, such as account numbers.
Unfortunately, when the card reader system reads the magnetic stripe on the back of a scored card, on some occasions the system read head detects the score. More specifically, for some but not all of the cards, the read back amplitude detected by the read head drops to a non-readable state when they score passes the read head. The card reader system interprets this score as the separation of two distinct cards, with a new card beginning after this score-created amplitude drop. The card reader falsely assumes that two cards exist when only a single, scored card is being read. As a result, the card reader falsely determines that the cards will not be matched with the appropriate customer card carrier, or the like, and an error is flagged. The effect is that the operator of the card reader and card inserter systems must stop the card processing to reinitialize the machine. Hence, considerable processing delays may occur as a result of the false reads caused by the miniature cards. Improvements are desired.